I <3 Warsong Gulch, with the map and the following sayings: “The Flags are your only objectives,” “Either help the FC, or hunt the EFC,” “Control midfield for the flags, not the HKs,” and “Complains first, least skilled. No exceptions.”

I <3 Arathi Basin, with the map and the mantras: “Fight at the flag,” “No, really, fight at the flag,” and “Get off the road. Fight at the flag.”

I <3 Strand of the Ancients, with the map and advice: “Defense: focus on killing Demolishers. Hit them on the Beach,” “Offense, melee drive, ranged ride. Ignore the South GY,” and “It’s all about the Demolishers.”

I <3 Isle of Conquest, with the map and strategies: “Take the Docks, use the Glaives to get into the Keep,” “Forget the Docks, take the other two, kill the Glaives.”

I <3 Alterac Valley, with the map and advice: “Control the Graveyards to control your opponent,” “You can’t win by controlling the Field of Strife. Capture a tower instead,” and “A strong defense stops a strong zerg. Every time.”

I <3 Wintergrasp, with just the map. I couldn’t break down my advice to pithy sayings, so I’ll leave it up to the wearer to explain the best strategy.

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We share stories, I started as ICC was released — didnt kknow a soul and kinda didnt want to. I made a druid cuz they could do everything and I became a Boomkin…I went to Moonglade in my late teens and somehow became lost and ended up in Felwood without going through the tunnel. It took me 3 days and 28 deaths to get out. (lol – yeah NOOOB!) I dabbled in other toons and eventually made a DK who just last week surpassed my main in hours played. (Today I have 17 toons on two accounts all on the same server – 3 are Horde, 4 are Druids, 3 are female, ranging in levels from some 25s, some mid 40’s, and a scattering between 65 and 85, 2 x 85s, 3 locked at level for pvp and expansion experience (70 druid doing the OP Outland thing, 74 rogue who has never done a quest in that bracket, and the 3rd is coming up – I havent decided…Shammy, Warrior, Priest, other Warrior, Lock, Mage, etc) and I love them all.

We have had almost the exact same experience with Wrath – Cata – Mists… I had one goal, once I was in the know, in Wrath – get geared, get raiding, kill the Lich King. I spent HOURS studying and practicing with my DK, I was named the DK “source” in a guild that took me in – and 8 months after starting WoW I was a “Kingslayer.” Then the stuff hit the fan, Cata came…my guildies who had all spoken about the rush to 85 and all the ways we could help eachother did what they always did – turtled into their little “core” that had been together and been at the raiding and activity core for the guilld for 5 years…I watched as they scattered to the various winds and I was alone again in Azeroth. (Well not really – I had talked my rl gf into playing and together we stayed entertained…we had 4 private banking guild banks and 26 toons between us…done a Refer a Friend once each way lol…)

But WoW had ridden off into the sunset, without me. I had just arrived!!! WTF I had BiS everywhere – I had done 6 5-mans and God knows what else every damn day and now my purples are trash and I should wear these U~G~L~Y greens? My talent trees were GONE – shrunk to nothing!! What had been the playland for people looking to create the perfect whatever had become a big letdown (I remember seeking the most utilitarian most survivable, most different build for my DK and ending up with something like a 15-35-20 build not maxed anywhere but covering everything.)

I was going for two records now, I figured, most spec changes/hour played and most deaths/hour played.

I was and am not a great gamer,..even though I have been in and on and around computers and games and everything since Silicon Valley – before DOS 1.0 and the Single Drive IBM-PC…I had played them all and yet never really played any…I was a tunnel-visioned, panic-attacked, oh-crap-what-now, button mashing SPAZ. I still kinda am but Cata, in an odd way, set me on my path… I hated PvP, it condensed all the bad things that could happen and I never left a PvP thing feeling good…my Boomkin/Resto main was a slow moving farm object for opps, my DK was a raider and god-forbid any PvP gear goes in the raid…NO! (lol until I showed them an obvously superior trinket, even after you ignored that Resilience line..)

I was gonna quit WoW…every day I sank deeper and deeper into deeperanddeeperland…it was Jan 1st after Cata launched…I still had no toons past 83. So I said, “Lets do this right…” and I got my Boomkin and went BG-ing. OMG…I don’t know what happened but it did…I got away from a rogue, then I actually added damage to a kill…I HAD A DAMN BLAST!!! (Yeah yeah :)

A Cataclysm later I am still having a blast, and I am a little better, but I am also more aware of what I don’t know… The advent of the Mists Talents almost scared me…then I realized how similar the system was to the one in Diablo 3 (which I had picked up and soloed through Inferno on a wat-too-OP Barbarian – all before Blizz killed the game more lol)…anyway these new talents and spellbooks seemed to have had a lot taken out but somehow the spells and talents and glyphs worked to give me MORE – almost across the board on my toons…and there were some new and very intriguing NEW abilities!! This moment led me to some slow and considered thought about these talents and abilities and my button mashing…You see – I have learned somem lua and my UI is amazing…it took a long time but I am DOWN to a few addons that do a few things I need to help me not be that spaz…I am a WASD user – was willing to do anything to get better at PvP and mousing was the way to go except I got sidetracked…I started binding my main action bar and a second one to the numberpad and all the direction buttons – they are essentially unused and if they had an important bind I moved it. My game got BETTER – BOTH HANDS on the keyboard…mouse was for a click or two here and there, thats all.

There still was that knowledge deep in my head that I couldn’t be a high dps guy or a success at this – I really had no ideas about all this rune management and procs and all that – WTF I was way more worried about that Shaman and feral heading this way…Cata had lost me…and Mists brought me back. I am spending hours on tiny details at the dummies…wow, you mean you guys watch all that stuff, your health, teams health, opps health, and everybodys cast bars with an eye for an interrupt, manage a pet, know just where and how a peel happens…your own damn cooldowns, all while staying alive and killing this damn … LEAVE ME ALONE!!! lol I had never broken it down to the simple flow – the easy and fluid and artful flow you sometimes see in a bg, almost always see with guys like Reckful. I couldn’t do what I had tools for because I had never gotten far enough to know the tools and their flow…these past 6 or 7 days have been my “l2p” – finally.

I see it on my main – the balance druid…after an identity crisis where Bear/Kitty + Boomkin seemed cool and Blizz gave us 4 trees lol…I wanna Bear and I know I am not quite there and one thing I have learned is do what’s fun for you…he’s a Boomkin/Kitty and from what I am seeing there will be some very surprised and unhappy opponents out there real soon – the Doomchicken is rising.

That day I was leaving WoW and wanted to make sure I hated it so I went PvPing has changed everything. My DK is Frost/Unholy and is part of a guild RBG team that made it to 1600 and will do much more. Behind these two is a gaggle of way-too-spoiled alts…all boasting boes and purples and everything possible. I pvp most and eventually all my alts – 2 are locked, the 74 rogue (WoW is 70s pvp gear good or what?) and the 70 feral on feral worgen druid (Blizz is lying – that is a super-raceclass combo…best and strongest toon I have)…a 3rd lock is coming, just not sure who…the 55 warrior, the 46 lock or maybe the 24 lock, the 26 priest or 36 mage or 43 gnome rogue…or my newest fascination, a baby enhancement shammy. Not only do I have a blast going shopping and being OCD on gear and setups for them all – I am learning more and more about what can be done to, with, and about any of it. It has taken sooo long to take my panic off and put my rational and see this for what it is – a game. An intricate one that takes focus and presence and effort to be “successful” in. Success to me 3 months ago was being asked to swing a sword 4 weeks running with the RBG team — it’s running the frozen halls as an 85 DK with your level up 80 mage gf and finding out it would have been easier alone (damn aggrofiend clothy and no heals, lol – she died 3x me once and we had a BLAST. Success is never having played Outland and now nearing completion on gettiing Netherwing Drakes after getting the Nether Rays and Talbuks — it’s getting Explorer with your gf in the last 4 days before Cata lol — and it’s about us, each of us inside…yeah its a game and all kinds of people play all kinds of them…the question becomes, “What game are you playing?”

I like yours – you rock and I am a fan. We aren’t too far apart – I just have a period of never-really-paid-attention to undo…and it’s happening! Yippee skippee and Thank YOU!

Khy – 85 BoomKitty Druid – Blade’s Edge

-lol yeah – here they are in order of creation:
Archee – 54 Hunter
Drumanchu – 81 Tree/Boomkin – now a Tauren
Fyzyxx – 74 Roguette – twins with my gfs roguette, always together
Defnytely – 85 Frost/Unholy DK – he who I sent for the King
Pewqq – 52 Pally – now a BElf, was a dwarf til i sent him to Hell lol
Phire – 43 Lock and Eyece – 36 Mage…human twins ;)
Gnomerzy – 43 rogue – catching up to his now 85 mageling gf
-the 3 worgens all grown from scratch:
Gadgett – all feral 70 pvp druid
Rhyzzyn – 61 DK, and
Wolftrix – 55 Fury/Prot Warrior
-then the straglers – all made to try something or just get some “air”:
Freebyrd – 26 Dranaei Warrior
Lolleepop – 26 Gnomette Priest
Rutrohh – 24 Dwarf Shaman
Gahtya – 26 Troll Druid (AMAZING with the Chameleon glyph lol)
and finally
Ricardcabeza – a 24ish worgen lock I saddled with being the GM of a cheapcheap guild bank I bought……wonder why it was so cheap…he’s getting a name change and a guild name change (and his Worgen tophat forever transmogged on his head) – I am thinking he will be Wikiwikado in guild …it was that lock that started my look deeper into Mists…had too!